1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to short-range RF networks and, more particularly, to dynamic configuration of nodes in short range RF networks.
2. Description of the Related Art
The availability of various types of communication devices produces a need to have these devices interact with each other in a manner which is cost efficient and which can be easily implemented. Such communication can occur between two or more terminal devices 216 (e.g. telephones, computers, printers, facsimile machines, personal digital assistants (PDAs), etc.) as shown in FIG. 2 by wired connection such as by connecting electrical conductors to the devices, or by wireless communication using infrared signals or wireless frequency (RF) signals. For many applications, RF signals are preferred as they do not require line-of-sight interaction between a transmitter and a receiver of a terminal device pair.
Recently, low power RF systems have been proposed for providing communications between a plurality of transceivers through a short range link having a broadcast range of several meters. One such local RF system is currently under development and is referred to as “Bluetooth”. This system will be commercially available in the near future and is designed to operate in the open spectrum, (around 2.4 gigahertz). The Bluetooth system will allow for devices such as mobile phones, computers, and other types of terminal devices 216 in FIG. 2 which are located within an operable range of the RF system to communicate with each other.
Wireless relay networks also exist which, in effect, extend an operating range of a local RF system by utilizing relay devices to interface with and provide communication between two or more terminal devices 216 in FIG. 2. Such a network is disclosed in PCT Application No. WO 98/17032 wherein a plurality of communication nodes are wirelessly connected to each other and to a host device for providing numerous communication links for data to be communicated between the host and terminal devices 216 in FIG. 2 interfaced with the nodes. A drawback of such a system, however, is that it requires manual entry of configuration information when the complement of relay devices is established or altered. Another drawback of such a system is that a foreign relay device can insinuate itself into a network.